Nigeria at 50: time to pray or drink wine?

Every nation wants to be great. Greatness doesn’t happen on its own, it’s the product of hard work. Hard work connects people to the source of greatness. In the lives of so many people, it is a tradition to clink glasses of wine at a particular time in their lives, especially at moments of achievement. The year 2010 marks the Golden Jubilee of Nigeria’s existence as a nation, and activities have accelerated to celebrate this important period of Nigeria’s independence from colonial masters.

The people who invented the idea of ​​marking occasions with wine, especially those with alcohol, had in mind that when people celebrate and drink, they drink their mistakes and difficulties from the past, to face a future without problems. The Bible tells us that wine is a mocker, and whoever is entangled in it is not wise. Wine mocks, and can drive a man to a point of intoxication.

I believe in celebrating excellence, as God did not make us Nigerians to simply occupy space. I think there is an expectation. That expectation is to constantly declare the glory of God. Of course, God made us to declare his glory! It is tempting for us to always point to the sins of our leaders both past and present, but when we speak of repentance, we exclude ourselves. True repentance involves us all: the leaders and the led. It is our duty to bring about the necessary change. God’s great faithfulness gives us the courage to face our past sins and mistakes individually and collectively.

Nigeria from the beginning has been led to believe so many lies. Lies that emanate from myopic leadership to self-centered following. I don’t think we ourselves have the whole truth as Nigerians. We are still seen as the same people year-round and one wonders if there is anything to really pop wine for, after 50 years of existence. What we really need right now is serious prayer, not a bottle of “something.” We must bear in mind that the paradox of alcohol is that for many it quenches thirst, but it can trigger a compulsion to drink without control. According to you, it is medicinal, but it can also cause blood, liver and heart disorders. Could there be something more paradoxical?

Instead of diving deeper into more problems, why not use this period to pray for this nation: NIGERIA? This country needs you like you need her. The problem now is that we have complained for too long and as a result we want to force everything down our throats to continually wallow in the mess that is already built. Nigerians, now is the time for us to wake up to positive work; we have stayed at the drawing board for too long. I’m so worried about the wine because we don’t really need more intoxication. Like any other well-intentioned country man, I belong in the place of honor and feel honored, when everyone else present is honored. Looking to the horizon, I see beyond time into eternity, a brighter future for all of us Nigerians. This shows that we cannot afford to jump on the bandwagon of the belief that wine can make us better when we drink it and get drunk. We would be aggravating our problems. This is the time to leave the drawing board alone and do something.

Finally, the age of 50 is a good age to face our problems head-on and solve them. Instead of going down the wrong path, we can start talking one on one now and raise our homeland to greatness! This is really what God wants from us.